


Early Morning Conversations

by orphan_account



Category: Dancing with the Stars (US) RPF, Valdaya
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-06
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-03-21 13:12:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3693545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Val, Alex, and Serge sit around the breakfast table before work talking about how stunning Z had looked the night before at the American Music Awards.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Early Morning Conversations

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted from summerlove13me's post on Tumblr, which can be found here: 
> 
> http://summerlove13me.tumblr.com/post/103464675267
> 
> This is fiction, not reality.

Val sat at the breakfast table with Serge and Alex, his fingers trailing across the surface of his phone.  He had gone to bed early the night before in order to be rested for the finale, but in doing so he had missed a text from Zendaya.  She had been at the American Music Awards and had sent him a short video of Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy.” 

 _Does this bring back memories?_  she had written.

In more ways than one.  She had probably meant to remind him of the Season 18 finale, when he had danced with Iggy to her song.  Z had made fun of his remark that looking into his eyes had resulted in Iggy making her mistake on stage. 

But more than that, it brought back memories from SWAY.  It had played during the after party, which was also when he and Z had finally admitted that their relationship was far more than the platonic relationship that they had been trying to convince themselves it was.  It had been building over the course of rehearsals that week, the tension when they touched nearly tangible.  But that night they had confronted the issue head on and both admitted that they had feelings for each other.  While they were not dating yet, they were certainly heading in that direction. 

He typed out a quick reply, including emojis, and sent the text.  She had gone to bed pretty late last night, but he knew that she had to be on set early for filming.  Even if she had accidentally left her volume on, his message should not wake her up much earlier than her alarm. 

“So what are you doing until the show?” Val asked, sliding his phone slightly away from him. 

“Gonna run to the studio and practice for SWAY for a while,” Serge said, reaching for a cereal box.  “Alex is tagging along to take video of rehearsal.”

“ _Da-yum!”_  Alex said suddenly, shattering the relaxed, relatively quiet atmosphere.  Serge and Val both jumped, startled by the outburst, before they turned to look at him.  It was comedic the way his red hair stood up in multiple places and Val tried not to laugh. 

“What?” he asked.  But Alex just kept staring at his phone, his jaw dropped.  Finally Serge reached over and slid the phone over to him, looking at whatever had caught Alex’s attention.  His eyes widened.   

“Woah!  She looks…”  He swallowed and shook his head before glancing at Val.  “Have you seen this?”

“Have I seen  _what?_ ” he asked, getting frustrated.  He pulled the phone towards him and looked at the screen.  He felt like he had been punched in the gut as his breath wheezed out of his lungs. 

Her hair and the way it fell in a thick, wavy curtain down her back.  Her makeup, which was remarkably understated.  Her outfit…damn, her outfit.  The gold pants and jacket were deceptively baggy while the turquoise cropped top displayed nothing but bronzed skin and toned abs.  And was that a fake nose piercing? 

He loved seeing her relaxed in nothing but sweats and Chucks – frankly it was his favorite thing to see her in – and he honestly thought that she looked perfect in everything she wore – mostly because all she had to do was smile at him and the world stopped turning, regardless of her clothing.  But in this…holy hell, she looked stunning.

“Give it back!” Alex said, reaching over and taking his phone back.  He tapped on the screen a few times. 

“What are you doing?” Val asked.

“Are you kidding?  I’m posting about it!”

“Alex, you probably shouldn’t –

“Done.”

“Let me see.”  Val grabbed the phone again, prying it out of Alex’s fingers in order to pull it back to his side of the table. Alex lunged for it, but Val pulled it closer to his chest in order to avoid his reach. 

_Z killed the red carpet on the low._

“See, I didn’t even tag her in it.”

“Oh…was I not supposed to?”  Val and Alex both swung around to see Serge holding his phone and looking rather self-conscious. 

“What did you say?” Val asked, grabbing the phone from Serge. 

_Killin’ the game Z! Lookin’ beautiful. @Zendaya_

Val did not say anything; he just looked at the words that his friends had scrawled hastily about his girl.  Well…not  _exactly_ his girl, at least not yet.  But still…

He and Z had both agreed not to do anything too obvious on social media or in front of the public yet, as they were still only slowly transitioning into what they hoped to become.  The last thing that they needed was the press and public infringing on their privacy while they tried to figure things out.  Their chemistry and connection had been apparent enough in the All Access interview a week ago.  He figured that stating his exact response to that outfit on Twitter would be beyond obvious, but having to keep his remarks to himself was going to eat at him. 

“You’re just jealous that you can’t post about it,” Alex mocked.  Although Serge and Maks were aware that there was something more between he and Z, Alex was the only one that knew everything, at least in his group of friends. 

Val’s jaw clenched.  “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” 

“Yeah, kinda,” Alex laughed.  Serge was watching them both, humor sparkling in his eyes. 

Val’s phone buzzed in his pocket.  Disgruntled by the conversation, he pulled it out and opened the text without looking at who it was from.  Glancing down at the screen, he did a double take. 

_Morning grumpypants._

But the words were not what captured his attention; the picture was. 

Kaz must have taken it when she was on the red carpet, because it did not seem like it was taken from an angle that the press would have.  It was a close-up of the side of her face, her warm brown eyes facing forward and her teeth showing as she smiled.  She had obviously been laughing at the time, because it was not her usual press line grin.  Even the corners of her eyes were crinkled in amusement.  The gold earrings and nose ring reflected the flashes of cameras and shined against the darkness of her hair, which was swept over the shoulder furthest away from him. 

She looked gorgeous.  Yes, the outfit and makeup and hair were stunning…but her smile was what did it for him.  It was what had always done it for him – and she knew it.   

“You’re the one that should be jealous,” he told Alex, looking up at his best friend.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Val did not say a word.  He simply smiled before leaving the kitchen.  He had a pre-rehearsal phone call to make.


End file.
